A Dutch politician from the right-wing Freedom Party PVV has stepped down from of the Amsterdam Jewish Council this week following his calls for religious penalties for Jews who defend the Goldstone report, a United Nation account Israel and Hamas of war crimes during a conflict in Gaza in 2009.

Gidi Markuszower has left the Council “effective immediately”, says Ronnie Eisenmann of Amsterdam’s Dutch-Israeli Head Synagogue NIHS, as quoted by the NRC daily.

Maskuszower’s departure from the Council follows media reports earlier in the week that he demanded “lifelong banning” for “anyone who publicly supports the cowardly and dangerous South African Jew Goldstone.”

A United Nations-endorsed report headed by international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone last year concluded that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during a 22-day armed conflict in Gaza that ended in January 2009.

Maskuszower, who ranks in the top five on the list of PVV candidates in the upcoming Dutch general elections in June, said the Goldstone report could present a serious danger for Israel, and warned against “Jewish traitors in our midst.”

The banning suggested by Maskuszower, called cherem, refers to the ex-communication of people from the Jewish communities. “People who fall under cherem are no longer welcome in our Jewish schools, can no longer be buried in our burial grounds, and can no longer be greeted,” Maskuszower said.